mangrove fern (acrostichum aureum and speciosum): info fact sheet, photos

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Mangrove Fern
Acrostichum spp.
Piai Raya/Laut (Malay)

clump of frens

These ferns are among the few that can tolerate saline soil and grows in the back mangroves. But they cannot tolerate flooding. Besides brackish water, it also grows in freshwater swamps and marshes.

Two species are commonly seen in Sungei Buloh Nature Park.
A. aureum has rounded leaf tips while A. speciosum has pointed leaf tips.

Mangrove and wetland wildlife at
Sungei Buloh Nature Park

Main features: Grows in huge clumps, up to 2m tall. Leaves: Large (up to 2m long), once pinnate. Rhizomes and leaf stalk bases are covered with scales.
Flowers and fruit: Like other ferns, do not produce flowers or fruits. They reproduce through spores that appear at the tips of the fronds, on the undersides. Status in Singapore: Common in suitable habitats, mostly northern parts of the island. World distribution: Pantropical. Classification: Family Pteridaceae. World 3 mangrove species.

The young leaves are reddish. When older fronds become fertile, the underside of the leaflets at the tip becomes covered with red-brown sporangia.
spore bearing leaflets

Uses: The young shoots can be eaten raw as a salad or cooked (Malay, India, Sri Lanka). The leaves are also used as cattle feed. Older leaves when dried are parchment-like and used as fire-resistant roof thatch (Vietnam and the Pacific). The fibres of old leaves may also be used to make cord.

Traditional medicinal uses: Rhizomes are pounded into a paste and used to treat wounds and boils (Malay). Leaves are used to stop bleeding.

Role in the habitat: Among the first large low-growing plants to grow on the landward side of the mangrove, the fern provides shade for other plants and trees to take root. But on cleared mangroves, it can form impenetrable thickets which prevents other plants from taking root. Thus it is often considered a weed. For animals, these thickets provide safety and shelter. Birds such as the Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea) make their nests in these thickets.

LINKS

Field Guide to the Mangroves of Queensland: Fabulous page on Acrostichum speciosum with diagrams, location and distribution map, flowering times.
Plants of Guam by Philip H. Moore and Patrick D. McMakin on the University of Guam website: brief fact sheet on Acrostichum aureum with photo.
Vegetation of Malaysian Lowlands: fact sheet of habit and uses with photo.
Tico Ethnobotanical Dictionary on Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases: brief facts with medicinal uses.
Halophyte DataBase, Salt-Tolerant Plants and Their Uses by N P Yensen: fact sheet on features and uses.
Direct uses of mangrove flora in Southeast Asia on the Wetlands International-Asia Pacific website: use as cattle feed.

REFERENCES

To buy these references & others, visit
Nature's Niche

Peter K L Ng and N Sivasothi, "A Guide to the Mangroves of Singapore I: The Ecosystem and Plant Diversity", Singapore Science Centre, 1999 (p. 73-74: description, habit, photo).
Michael Mastaller, "Mangroves: The Forgotten Forest Between Land and Sea", Tropical Press, 1997 (p. 7: distribution; 93, 96-97: food, medicinal and other uses).

By Ria Tan, 2001